


Three Cats and a Witch (Or Two)

by musicals_musicals



Series: The Prom Stuff [5]
Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, F/F, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Witchcraft, Witches, its not really that spooky, the prom discord halloween contest, yes i am yet another prom writer writing a spooky one shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 01:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21245486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicals_musicals/pseuds/musicals_musicals
Summary: Alyssa's life isn't exactly in the place that she wants it to be. For one thing she's still living with her mom even though she graduated high school, also the town now supposedly has a witch living in the the forest which is fun. At least she has a party which will get her out of the house for halloween.





	Three Cats and a Witch (Or Two)

**Author's Note:**

> i am here to submit mediocre writing to a contest i will not win, because it's fun
> 
> also yes i am 250 words over the word count limit shhh

Every small town has its rumors. The campfire stories that are whispered in the dark of night and leave kids cowering in tents when they hear a branch crack, the abandoned building that a teenager died in after they were dared to open the window of the second story bedroom, the storybooks written about vampires and ghosts that seem just a little too realistic to be fake.

Then there’s Edgewater. It's a tiny town in Indiana, four miles past the cows and an hour away from any buildings taller than two stories. Alyssa has lived in Edgewater for her entire life, it's a small town, with barely 1000 people making up the population and for a long time, the scariest thing you could find was the paper mache vampire that the Johnsons set up every Halloween. Sure people still told ghost stories, but an element of the horror was always missing because the stories took place somewhere that was decidedly not Edgewater.

Well that is until the witch took up residence in the forest.

Everyone had their theories about the witch, some people thought she was nothing but a story made up in order to scare people, other people take it more seriously. One of those people is Alyssa's mom.

“I don’t want you going to this party tonight” Mrs. Greene fussed while Alyssa sat at the table doing homework. Even though Alyssa had graduated the year before, she was still living at home. Actually going to college was too expensive right now so she was taking online college courses while working full time at the bookstore. Sadly enough still living at home meant still having to ask her mother’s permission to go places. “I talked to Kaylee’s mom and she said that the party is happening on the edge of the forest, right by where the witch was last seen”

“Mom, I’ll be fine” Alyssa promised writing in the answer to number seven, she had stopped listening a while ago in the hope that she would be able to finish her math homework before Kaylee and Shelby came to pick her up.

“You don’t know that Alyssa” Mrs. Greene put her hand on Alyssa’s back in a manner that was probably supposed to be comforting, but made Alyssa feel trapped. At this point Alyssa's only comfort was the knowledge that someday she would be able to move out, and would only have to see her mother on holidays.

“Mom it’s one night, Kaylee and Shelby will be there the entire time” Alyssa could tell that her mother was starting to cave. Though Mrs. Greene had never liked Shelby, she thought Kaylee was smart and normal and liked to tell Alyssa how happy she was that she was Alyssa’s friend.

“Well…” Mrs. Greene hesitated and Alyssa smiled, that usually meant that she had won and would not be spending the night listening to her mother talk. “I suppose you can go”

“Thank you mom!” Alyssa closed her notebook (the rest of the math homework could wait) and turned to drop the textbook in her bag. She pushed in the chair and made sure to hug her mother before running upstairs to change.

\--------

Alyssa’s phone rang for a facetime call as she was putting on the last touches of her makeup. She glanced at the caller ID which read  _ Shelby _ before picking up. “Hey Shelby are you on your way?”

“Not quite Kaylee is having a problem with her hair and—“

“Is that what you’re wearing?!” Kaylee interrupted picking up the phone and squinting at Alyssa. Shelby looked past Kaylee’s shoulder and gasped in a way that Alyssa found slightly more dramatic than necessary.

“Uh yeah?” Alyssa glanced down at her outfit in confusion, she thought she looked good. She had picked out a simple purple sweater and some clean jeans, it was a little cold but she was hoping the sweater would mean she wouldn’t need a coat.

“Where is your costume?” Shelby asked, the camera flipped and Alyssa noticed that her friends were both dressed in Halloween costumes. Shelby was dressed like a dead cheerleader (creative), and Kaylee was dressed like a cat. “You realize it’s a Halloween party right?”

“No?” Alyssa was 90% sure that the invitation she received said nothing about wearing a costume.

“Just put on whatever you can find around the house, we’ll be there in 20 minutes” Shelby hung up and Alyssa was left staring at her mirror trying to come up with costume ideas.

———

Five minutes later the contents of Alyssa’s closet had been thrown across her floor and she came out victoriously holding a witch hat. The hat had been part of Alyssa’s Halloween costume when she was twelve and by some miracle it had stayed in her closet for seven years. Alyssa dropped the hat on her head and looked in the mirror. It was a normal witch hat, black with a few sparkles and a purple striped ribbon tied at the bottom of the cone part. Alyssa shook her head a few times, but the hat stayed on her head. Perfect.

Alyssa dropped the hat on her desk and went back to her pile of clothes, finding a dark orange blouse and a black vest to wear on top. She also found black skirt made of different fabrics sewn together, that ended at her shins which she put over black long underwear leggings, in order to stay warm. Lastly she grabbed a pair of purple black striped socks that almost matched her hat. Alyssa glanced in the mirror and changed her makeup a little to appear more dark and mysterious. 

“Alyssa! Kaylee and Shelby are here!” Her mother called from downstairs. Alyssa ran down the stairs, not even bothering to put on her boots, just grabbing them and running out the door. 

“Bye mom!”

\----------

Alyssa stepped out of Shelby’s car and onto solid ground. It had been a very bumpy car ride to get to the party and Alyssa had been starting to get carsick.

It was a big party. Sure Alyssa had been preparing herself for having to talk to everyone and socialize with people who she had never really liked, because that's what you did in small towns. The party was taking place outside in the middle of one of the fields Nick’s parents owned that had been too wet to plant over the summer, it was dry now but the flooding had left smooth dirt that was now packed down by all the footsteps. There was some kind of bonfire going in the center of the party where Alyssa could see multiple people doing things that would most likely result in second degree burns. Maybe she would avoid that area.

“Alyssa, Shelby wants to go talk to Kevin. Do you want to come?” Kaylee asked pointing to where Kevin was sitting next to the snack table.

“No thanks” Alyssa looked around for a possible excuse “I’m going to go get a drink”

“Suit yourself” Kaylee followed Shelby, then the crowd shifted and they were out of sight.

Alyssa figured she might as well make good on her excuse and started the walk to the drink table. Nearly everything looked alcoholic except for a couple of water bottles and juice boxes (who brings juice boxes to a party?). 

Alyssa considered her options before deciding to just take one of the previously mentioned juice boxes. She wasn’t in the mood for bad alcohol, and water seemed a little boring for a party. 

Alyssa’s attention drifted to the solid wall of trees located right behind the party, she had never actually gone into the woods, but they seemed more harmless than everyone made them out to be. She wanted to go for a walk through the trees more than she wanted to be at this party.

She was scanning the edge of the forest looking for something interesting that she could go check out without drawing suspicion, when she noticed a figure walking out of the forest. It almost looked like...

“Greg?” Alyssa asked, Greg spun around and stared at Alyssa while she walked closer.

“Alyssa, hey! How’s it going” Greg awkwardly stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled at her.

“Why were you in the woods?” Alyssa asked curiously, she would think that Greg of all people would want to stay away from them.

“Oh, you know just casual, uh bird watching!”

“You were bird watching?” Alyssa raised her eyebrows and gestured to their surroundings “In the dark?”

Greg looked around and seemed to realize that it was no longer a bird watchable time “Yep, see I’ve been looking for this super rare owl, so I figured maybe if I went when it was all the way dark I’d have better luck” Greg glanced at the woods “I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be able to see the owl because it would be too dark”

“Sure,” Alyssa had more questions but she decided to stop. If she asked any more questions she would probably just get another bad excuse. Greg took the chance to run off and blend into the crowd of the party.

Alyssa looked in the direction he'd gone, Kaylee and Shelby both looked thoroughly entertained, they were talking to a girl who was in Alyssa’s english class senior year while Kevin talked to someone Alyssa didn't recognize. No one appeared looking in her direction so Alyssa took the chance to start the walk to the edge of the forest.

The closer Alyssa got to the trees the lighter her body and mind felt. Something about the woods felt so freeing. She reached the first tree and set her hand on the trunk, taking a deep breath. She had always loved nature, her aunt lived on a farm that they occasionally visited and Alyssa could get lost for hours wandering the fields and trees, looking for insects and animals.

Alyssa started walking the well worn path that ran right on the edge of the forest, far enough inside that she could feel surrounded by nature, but not so far in that she ran the risk of getting lost.

Without even noticing Alyssa found herself thinking about Emma Nolan for the first time in months. She was Gregs cousin and Alyssa knew they had been close before she disappeared. Emma had been Alyssa’s lab partner in her Sophomore chem class, and was the first person that Alyssa actually felt like she could be herself around. Then everything fell to shit.

It was Junior year of high school when Emma came out as a lesbian. People freaked out to say the least, but Alyssa stayed mostly uninvolved. Even though she liked Emma, Alyssa decided it was best to distance herself to avoid any suspicion. Sometimes she wishes she’d been brave enough to stand with Emma and help her, but they didn’t even know each other that well. Sure they hung out a few times outside of chemistry, but that didn't count, they were barely friends. Maybe Alyssa thought Emma was cute, and maybe she had considered asking Emma out on a couple of occasions, but that didn’t make a difference.

The day after graduation Emma disappeared. By that point she had been living with her grandmother for over a year, but whenever anyone asked Betsy just said that she didn’t know where Emma was.

Nothing about that would’ve been strange, after all LGBT+ teenagers fleeing from conservative small towns as soon as possible is pretty normal. Alyssa’s babysitter when she was 7 was a high school girl named Anna, who had run off as soon as she graduated, with her girlfriend who was the captain of the cheerleaders. The last thing Alyssa had heard was that they were getting married and that’s only because her mother was complaining about getting an invitation to what she considered a “fake wedding”.

The weird thing was how Emma’s disappearance corresponded with the first sighting of the witch. After all the sighting happened only a few weeks after Emma’s disappearance. Most people in the small town had dismissed the coincidence, after all they’d already forgotten about Emma the second she left. Well except for the teenagers. The most common rumor that Alyssa heard was that the witch took Emma, something about it being punishment for being gay, a theory which was obviously total bullshit, but it was exactly the kind of story that spreads among the teenagers and young adults.

Alyssa had her own theories, some that may even be correct judging by Greg’s weird behavior earlier, but she had always kept them to herself, safely avoiding suspicion and confrontation.

Alyssa hadn’t realized how far she had walked while lost in thought until she turned around and the fire was nothing but a speck in the darkness. Instead of feeling any sense of foreboding, or fear from being so far from her friends when there was supposedly a witch running around, Alyssa felt free. She turned her body to look further into the woods and in a move that would’ve made her mother freak out, Alyssa stepped deeper into the trees. A small clearing caught her eye, it was lit by the moonlight and there were violets covering the ground. Alyssa felt a pulling sensation in her chest and she walked closer, admiring the flowers.

Once Alyssa had entered the clearing she found a large flat rock that was sitting right next to a tree, perfect for sitting on. Alyssa walked to the other side of the clearing, careful not to crush the beautiful violets that covered the ground. She sat on the rock with her back against the tree and looked up, taking in the beauty of the night sky.

Alyssa propped her hand behind her back and it fell on a smooth long stick. She turned around on the rock and picked it up to be examined. It was about the length of her forearm and was a little thicker than a pencil. Alyssa ran her fingers over the smooth surface and started to notice carvings that wrapped around the stick. It almost looked like a wand, like in the tv shows she used to watch when she was younger.

Alyssa suddenly noticed a voice that was getting closer “Shut up Greg I didn’t lose it, I’m just not positive of it’s exact location” Instead of the field where Alyssa would have expected there to be people, this voice was coming out of the forest on her left. “Yes I know Gran is going to kill me if I lost it” It was a girl’s voice, she sounded about Alyssa’s age maybe a little older.

Alyssa looked around the clearing but there wasn’t anywhere she could realistically hide, hopefully this girl was friendly.

“You aren’t helping, and I’m hanging up now” The girl declared she stepped into the clearing and in another surprise meeting it was Emma Nolan.

“Emma?”

She turned to look at Alyssa and yes that was definitely her. She looked a little older and a lot happier than she had been when Alyssa had last seen her, but it was her. She was dressed in black jeans and a t-shirt with a blue flannel over top. “Alyssa?”

“Yeah, what are you doing here?” Alyssa stood up letting her hand that was holding the stick fall to her side.

“Oh you found it!” Emma pointed to the stick in Alyssa’s hand before she seemed to realize what she said. “Or no that isn’t the thing I was looking for, that’s a normal stick”

Alyssa examined the stick once more, it almost looked like a wand, and if it is a wand then that means, “You’re the witch everyone keeps talking about”

Emma blushed slightly “Uh yeah, that was an accident” She fiddled with the ring she was wearing “I definitely did not mean for those people to see me”

“So can I do like magic with this?” Alyssa asked she pointed the wand at a nearby tree and waved it in a smooth motion, hoping to mimic what the characters on tv always did. (its a real wand what else is she going to do?).

“Technically yes, but–” Emma reached over and grabbed the end of the wand, taking it from Alyssa’s hand “You’re holding it backwards”

Alyssa could feel her face warming up “Oops”

Emma laughed, but Alyssa didn’t feel embarrassed. She’s missed Emma’s laugh, the noise just reminded her of the ever persistent crush that was lingering in the back of her mind. “I could teach you magic if you wanted” Emma offered “As long as you promise not to tell Nan, she might kill me”

Alyssa suddenly made the connection “Wait, this is why Greg was acting suspicious!” Suddenly a lot of puzzle pieces started to fall into place. “He was visiting you!”

“Yeah, he visits sometimes. He loves my cats” Emma explained. She tucked the wand into a pocket of her pants that she must’ve custom made because there was no way girls jean pockets fit a wand.

“How many cats do you have?” Alyssa asked, she was aware that this was off topic, but she had always wanted a cat. Sadly her mother was allergic and would never let Alyssa get one.

“Oh I have three” Emma unlocked her phone and pulled up a picture that she showed Alyssa. It showed three cats, one black, one brown, and one black and white.

Alyssa gasped, “I love them”

“You know, I’m looking for a roommate” Emma said before she seemed to realize what she just said. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry that’s creepy, I just used to really like you in high school– you know as a friend, and Greg told me you still live with your mom and that you complain about it a lot. I’m sorry”

“Do you have wifi?”

“Yes,” Emma responded immediately, “I also have a garden where I grow most of my own food with a little help from magic”

Alyssa considered her options. Living with Emma sounded like a dream, cats, gardens, and she wouldn’t have to worry about her mother constantly breathing over her. “You aren’t going to like turn me into a frog or anything, right?”

“No,” Emma smiled, “I mostly do nature magic, like growing plants”

“Can you show me?” Alyssa had always wanted to see magic, even though her mother always insisted that it didn’t exist.

“Sure,” Emma turned to the tree that Alyssa had been waving the wand at earlier. Alyssa put her hand on Emma’s shoulder and leaned closer to watch as the tree branches began to droop down and brush the top of the violets. The flowers started climbing up the branches until the leaves were covered in multicolored flowers. The branches returned to their original position and Emma dropped the wand to her side.

“I had a crush on you in high school” Alyssa blurted, she wasn’t sure why she thought this was the time to say this, but it was.

Emma spun around but didn’t move away “Really?”

“Yeah”

Emma seemed to consider something “Do you still have a crush on me now?”

Alyssa looked Emma in the eye while she answered “Yes”

“Can I kiss you?” Emma asked bringing her hand up to rest on Alyssa’s face.

Instead of answering Alyssa leaned forward and kissed Emma like she had wanted for five years. She pulled away enjoying the breathless look on Emma’s face. “Can I still move in with you and your cats?”

“Of course”

**Author's Note:**

> not a huge fan of the ending, but i was already past the word count and i had too much to fit in. Anyway thanks for reading! please comment and stuff (you know the drill)! 
> 
> find me on tumblr [@musicals-musicals](https://musicals-musicals.tumblr.com/) and if you reblog the post I'm going to make about this i will love you forever!


End file.
